Back عملية كمال عدوان Arabic Massacre de la carretera de la costa Catalan Masakr na pobřežní silnici Czech Küstenstraßen-Anschlag German Masacre de la carretera costera Spanish Massacre de la route côtière French פיגוע כביש החוף HE Massacro della Strada costiera Italian Kustwegaanslag Dutch Massakren på Israels kysthovedvei NB
| Coastal Road massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict | |
 Remains of the hijacked bus being inspected shortly after the attack | |
  The attack site | |
| Location | Coastal Highway near Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Coordinates | 32°08′52.6″N 34°48′11.4″E / 32.147944°N 34.803167°E |
| Date | March 11, 1978 |
Attack type | Mass murder, spree killing |
| Weapons | Various weapons, possible grenade |
| Deaths | 48 (38 Israeli civilians including 13 children,[1] 1 Israeli soldier[not verified in body] + 9 Palestinian attackers) |
| Injured | 76 wounded[1] |
| Perpetrators | Fatah, PLO |
No. of participants | 11 militants |
The Coastal Road massacre occurred on 11 March 1978, when Palestinian militants hijacked a bus on the Coastal Highway of Israel and murdered its occupants; 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, were killed as a result of the attack while 76 more were wounded.[2][1][3] The attack was planned by the influential Palestinian militant leader Khalil al-Wazir (aka Abu Jihad)[4] and carried out by Fatah, a Palestinian nationalist party co-founded by al-Wazir and Yasser Arafat in 1959. The initial plan of the militants was to seize a luxury hotel in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv and take tourists and foreign ambassadors hostage in order to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.[5]
According to Time magazine, the timing was aimed primarily at undermining Israeli–Egyptian peace talks between Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat and damaging Israel's tourism sector.[6][7] However, due to a navigational error, the attackers ended up 64 kilometres (40 mi) north of their target, and were forced to find an alternative method of transportation to their destination.[6]
Time characterized it as "the worst terrorist attack in Israel's history."[7] Fatah dubbed the hijacking "Operation of the Martyr Kamal Adwan"[8] after the chief of operations of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), who was killed during the Israeli commando raid on Lebanon in April 1973.[9][10] In response to the massacre, Israel launched Operation Litani against PLO bases in southern Lebanon three days later.
- ^ a b c "1978, March 11. The Coastal Road Massacre". Richard Ernest Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt Dupuy (chamel). The Encyclopedia of Military History from 3500 B.C. to the Present, Harper & Row, 1986; ISBN 978-0-06-181235-4, p. 1362.
- ^ Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Statement to the press by Prime Minister Begin on the massacre of Israelis on the Haifa-Tel Aviv Road". Archived 24 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Historical Documents Archive: 12 March 1978.
- ^ Gregory S. Mahler. "Operation Litani is launched in retaliation for that month's Coastal Road massacre", Politics and Government in Israel: The Maturation of a Modern State, Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7425-1611-3, p. 259.
- ^ "Israel's successful assassinations" (in Hebrew). MSN. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
- ^ Moshe Brilliant, "Israeli officials Say Gunmen Intended to Seize Hotel", The New York Times, 13 March 1978.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
tragedywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b "A Sabbath of Terror", Time, 20 March 1978.
- ^ Edgar O'Ballance (1979). Language of Violence: The Blood Politics of Terrorism, p. 289, Presidio Press (original from the University of Michigan); ISBN 978-0-89141-020-1, ISBN 978-0-89141-020-1
- ^ "An Eye for an Eye". CBS. 20 November 2001. Retrieved 21 November 2001.
- ^ Greenaway, HDS, "Arab Terrorist Raid in Israel Kills 30", The Washington Post, 12 March 1978.
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search